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U.S. Tries to Stop Iranian Arms Shipment; Conflict Brewing Between U.S. and Iran; Two Arrests Made In Migrant Boat Sinking. Hundreds of Migrants Feared Dead in Disaster. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired April 21, 2015 - 08:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: and a conflict with Iran could be right around the corner. Literally within 24 hours, ships will come into view of one another. They show a force is in effort to choke off Tehran's supply of weapons to Houthi rebels who have sent Yemen into chaos.

[08:00:14] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: This comes at a sensitive time for U.S./Iran relations. Nuclear negotiations were set to resume tomorrow. Adding to the tension, a "Washington Post" reporter now facing espionage charges in Tehran.

Our coverage this hour begins with CNN global affairs correspondent Elise Labott in Washington. What's the latest, Elise?

ELISE LABOTT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: That crisis in Yemen taking a new turn this morning as U.S. warships joining other nations off the coast of Yemen in a rapidly escalating situation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LABOTT (voice-over): The Obama administration deploying an aircraft carrier and guided missile destroyer in Yemeni water to join nine other ships in the region in a strong signal to Iran, all prepared to intercept Iranian vessels if they proceed into Yemeni waters where countries like Saudi Arabi, Egypt and other partner nations have a presence.

The U.S. fearing the Iranian ships may be carrying arms for Houthi rebels fighting U.S. allies in Yemen. The heightened military response comes at a sensitive time in U.S./Iran relations, with delicate nuclear negotiations set to resume Wednesday and as Iran's foreign minister is calling for a diplomatic situation in Yemen in a "New York Times" op-ed.

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: It's a little ironic for the Iranian foreign minister to be calling for a diplomatic resolution to that situation while at the same time his country continues to supply arms to one parties that dispute --

LABOTT (voice-over): All this less than a week after the United Nations Security Council approved a resolution to choke off weapon flow the Houthi fighters. Yemen continuing to descend into chaos. The scale of destruction

widening as Saudi-led airstrikes on a Houthi weapons depot teared through the country's rebel-held capital of Sunnah.

The explosions that killed dozens of people and wounding nearly 300, and flattening homes and gutting buildings and setting plumes of thick smoke hundreds of feet in the air.

A humanitarian crisis at the epicenter of the raging conflict. Thousands fleeing the country as seen in this exclusive CNN video.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LABOTT (on camera): And dangerously low supplies of food, medicine and water are plaguing this already impoverished country and even more devastating situation, lacking leadership after Yemeni president, Hadi, fled the country last month seeking safety. Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: It is all so complicated. Elise, thanks so much for helping to break it down.

The Iranians not pleased with the U.S. military maneuver, which comes a day after the Iranian foreign minister suggested the U.S. step up and cooperate to find a solution to the mess in Yemen.

CNN senior international correspondent Frederik Pleitgen is live in Tehran. Good morning, Fred.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn. It certainly is something that is making the relations between the U.S. and Iran a lot more difficult as we're in this very testy times also with those negotiations about the nuclear agreement.

The Iranians, for their part, have come out and said that they have no desire to send their ships to the waters off the coast of Yemen. They say the reason why their warships are in that area is to fight piracy in that area. Of course, we know the Gulf of Aden and the area around Somalia is one that does experience a lot of piracy.

However, the head of Iran's Navy, whom I was able to speak to quite recently, also went a little further and also said the Iranians would not take any advice from the Americans. I just want to get a quote here from the commander of the Navy. He said, "We don't let anyone give us warnings or threats, because we are working according to international law and regulations and we work for the security of our country and other countries."

The Iranians have also said the only thing that they want to do is supply a humanitarian aid to Yemen. I was actually at one center where aid was being packed to be sent to Yemen but the people there said they have not been able to send any since the conflict broke out. Of course, all of this very much at odds with what the U.S. has been saying where they say that the Iranians, at least in the past, have certainly supplied the Houthi rebels with weapons. So this is certainly something that is fueling a lot of descent between the two countries.

In the meantime, it seems as though within the nuclear negotiations, those will be set to continue to go forward and at least some here in the Iranian establishment say they are cautiously optimistic that a deal does seem to be very much possible. Chris?

CUOMO: Which is so confusing to understand how there could be optimism on one front when there is so much pessimism on other fronts.

Fred, thank you so much. Helpful to have you in Iran this morning.

Alright, let's bring in Peter Beinart. He's CNN political commentator and contributing editor for Atlantic Media.

So Professor, this growing list of charges against Iran are becoming confusing because we don't understand why they would be doing any of these things. Help us test this. All right, let's start with the immediate. Why would you send these ships into this area when we are telling you not to?

[08:05:14] PETER BEINART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Iran and Saudi Arabia are in a power struggle. You look at a map, Yemen is a small, poor country, Saudi Arabia and Iran are two big relatively powerful countries and they have been in a long-term power struggle for dominance in that region. The reason the struggle, I think, is getting out of hand has a lot to do with what is happening in Iraq. It used to be there was a three-way balance between Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Iran. And Iraq would often go back and forth between the two. As Iraq has collapsed, it has led Iran Saudi Arabia to go right at one another and that's what we are seeing in Yemen.

CUOMO: Alright, so we're seeing it in Yemen, the Houthi rebels. You're saying the balance of power in Iraq is making you do something in Yemen. The allegation is you are tearing apart the Yemeni state for no reason other than your own advantage and you deny it. Why do you deny it if you have this clear reason to do it?

BEINART: I think the truth is that Yemen is deeply divided itself. Remember, it used to be two countries. It's very divided between its north and south. So what we're seeing is that these internal divisions in Yemen are being seized on by both Iran, which wants to maintain control - Sorry, Saudi Arabia, which has historically had a lot of control in Yemen and Iran which wants to increase its control and so they are choosing rival sides and tearing that country apart. The frightening thing is what are going to be the long-term consequences of anarchy and chaos in Yemen, especially given that ISIS and al Qaeda have a real presence there?

CUOMO: You take a "Washington Post" person and put them on trial, and you are holding four Americans and you say that you want to have better negotiations with the United States. How are those two things consistent?

BEINART: No, they're not. I mean, what Iran is doing with the "Washington Post" reporter is really despicable and as you say, they have done this with a number of - especially Iranian Americans. It's hard to know inside that regime which factions in the regime really want to do that, whether maybe partly they want to do it to embarrass Rouhani and make these negotiations harder to achieve. But whatever the reason, it's really inexcusable.

CUOMO: Is Iran, personality wise, is it technically a split personality? Old guard, new guard, so you have to think about who is talking to you, which part of Iran, to understand a particular situation like the "Washington Post" one versus the Yemen situation?

BEINART: Iran is a big powerful country and it's bigger than most of the countries in its region, and it feels it has a right to play a large and powerful role in that region. I don't think that is particularly controversial. I think what's controversial in Iran is how you do it. There are some in Iran, the moderates, who want Iran to have a larger role, but they would like it to be as part of a (INAUDIBLE) with the United States in the West. There are others who are threatened by that kind of opening to the West because it could undermined that power and they are more invested in conflict. So I think everyone wants Iran to be more powerful. The question is how they want to get there.

CUOMO: Does Iran have the stones to create a military conflict on the seas off Yemen?

BEINART: I think it's unlikely. I think it's important to remember while Iran cares about Yemen and has a relationship with the Houthis, it's not as close as a relationship as Iran has with, say, Hezbollah in Lebanon or Assad in Syria. Iran cares about Yemen, but the Houthis really are a lot more autonomous from Iran than, let's say, Hezbollah is. It's not exactly the same situation. But you know, one of the dangerous things is that even if neither side wants a confrontation, a confrontation could come, accidents happen. You've got all of these ships off the coast of a country that is becoming an absolutely chaotic war zone. Again, ISIS is around there, al Qaeda is around there. Goodness knows what could happen. Things could spiral out of control.

CUOMO: And you know, we're talking about military warships, we'll remember U.S. history, the USS Cole was in the port of Aden and it was just a ski boat.

BEINART: This is one of the most dangerous areas of the world.

CUOMO: And not just because of pirates. Now then the big question comes. Everything that's going on around the negotiations on nuclear talks, does Iran want to dynamite these talks and that's why it's creating all of the contention in other areas?

BEINART: No, I don't think Iran wants to dynamite the talks. I don't think the United States does either. But both Iran and the United States are trying to send each other the message that regardless of what happens in these talks, they are not going to give up their quest for influence in this region. So on the one hand --

CUOMO: How do you do this? Because we keep saying, alright, it's the nukes, forget about Yemen, it's just the nukes, but now you have so many other things to forget about. At what point do they wind up eclipsing the subject of the talks?

BEINART: Well, I think at least in this moment Rohani and Obama are very invested in trying to get a deal. They obviously are other people in Washington and in Tehran who are not. But the Obama administration is playing a very tricky game. It's trying to reassure Saudi Arabia by supporting Saudi Arabia in Yemen because it wants Saudi Arabia to support this Iran deal. But if a confrontation gets too explosive - I mean, let's imagine, God forbid, that a bunch of American sailors were to die off the coast of Yemen, then we would be spiraling into a completely different political reality in which these negotiations could become impossible.

[08:10:10] CUOMO: I can hear the voice of Benjamin Netanyahu getting ready to speak and he's going to say, you see? I told you. You see? I don't know why you're dealing with these people.

Peter Beinart, thank you very much for laying out the perspective that is so confusing to so many here.

Mick?

MICHAELA PERERIRA, CNN ANCHOR: The story that CNN is watching now, breaking overnight, a captain and crew member arrested on suspicion of human trafficking after a ship carrying hundreds of migrants sinks in the Mediterranean Sea. Hundreds are feared dead.

As we learn more about what led up to that tragedy, want to turn right to CNN senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman tracking the latest developments for us live from Italy.

Ben?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Michaela. It seems that more people are arriving every single day. So far the Italian Coast Guard today has rescued 446 migrants off the coast, and apparently among that number, 100 women and as many as 50 children. This daily number of arrivals underscores the fact that this crisis is only getting worse.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WEDEMAN (voice-over): This morning, a desperate fight for survival playing out in international waters. Thousands of migrants fleeing homelands gripped by poverty, some escaping the brutal advance of ISIS. According to the International Organization for Migration, more boats may be in distress in the Mediterranean. This as horrific tales begin to emerge from 25 migrants arriving at a port in Sicily Monday night, surviving what may be the worst migrant disaster at sea between Africa and Europe ever.

FRANCESCO ROCCA, PRESIDENT, ITALIAN RED CROSS: They lost a lot of friends and they are in shock.

WEDEMAN (voice-over): The survivors telling officials that human traffickers stuffed up to 850 of them from sub-Saharan Africa, Pakistan and Syria in a fishing boat only 65 feet long. The bottom level, they told officials, was locked, leaving most with no way out when the boat capsized in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea on Saturday.

CARLOTTA ASAMI, UNHCR SPOKESWOMAN: I had the feeling that they feel, like, lost, you know. It's something - they have been really through a huge tragedy.

WEDEMAN (voice-over): Italian police arresting two of the survivors on suspicion of being part of the human traffickers cramming these migrants on board.

Since the beginning of this year, more than 35,000 refugees and migrants have crossed the Mediterranean, the majority landing in Italy and Greece, a staggering number that European governments worry could surpass last year's total.

When approximately 219,000 refugees and migrants sailed across the Mediterranean, the UN Refugee Agency estimates nearly 3,500 of those migrants died at sea.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WEDEMAN (on camera): And the Katanya prosecutor has put out more details of these two individuals who were arrested. One is the 27- year-old Tunisian captain of the ship and the other is a 26-year-old Syrian, and they have been charged with shipwreck manslaughter, multiple manslaughter, and abetting clandestine immigration. However, these arrests are probably not going to stop this massive influx of migrants.

Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: Yes, it doesn't seem to be stopping it, even the horrific stories of people being locked on board.

Ben, thanks so much for that.

Well back here at home, support for President Obama bouncing back in a new CNN/ORC poll out just this morning. But the news is not all rosy.

White House correspondent Michelle Kosinski is live at the White House for us with the interesting new numbers.

Tell us what you're finding, Michelle.

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Alisyn. So here is what it looks like right now. 48 percent to, 47 percent of people in this poll approve versus disapprove of how President Obama is doing in his role as president. May not sound like a reason for him to break out the party favors, but you have to consider that this is the first time in two years that more people approve. About a year ago, his numbers were in the low 40s. So that has improved pretty much. He is now at the same level that President Reagan was at this point in his presidency. And to compare that, Bill Clinton was at 60 percent and George W. Bush, 36 percent. More people now are also feeling good about the economy. We're seeing

that in the numbers consistently. 52 percent now feel that the economy is in a good place.

And listen to this, this is the first time in Obama's entire presidency that a significant number feel that way versus feel that the economy is doing poorly. More people now also feel like they are doing better than they were a year ago, and 60 percent feel like the economy a year from now will also be doing well.

[08:15:03] And, of course, every poll has a point that's kind of a sad trombone moment, and the approval rating for the Republican leadership in Congress, yes, wah, wah, wah, it's now 28 percent.

Back to you guys.

CUOMO: Well done on the trombone there, Kosinski. One more tool in the toolbox. Thank you very much.

All right. So, when we were talking about terror, it's not just over there. It's also right here at home. Six Minnesota men charged with allegedly conspiring to link up with ISIS in Syria and Iraq, and court documents allege the suspects ranging in age from 19 to 21 made repeated efforts to leave the U.S. and join the terrorist group.

Their ten-month plot was foiled when a man who was initially working with them began talking to the FBI. Federal prosecutors say they were influenced by an 18-year-old friend who skipped out of the U.S. last spring to join U.S.

PEREIRA: U.S. Army troops started training Ukrainian government forces at a base in Western Ukraine and the joint military exercises involve some 300 American troops and 1,000 members of Ukraine's national guard. The Ukrainian president, Petro Poroshenko, praising the soldiers' arrival as a sign that the West is prepared to help Ukraine defend its sovereignty.

CAMEROTA: Now to Chris' favorite story of the day -- happy birthday to Britain's Queen Elizabeth. The monarch's turned 89 today.

Chris, control yourself.

Celebrations are underway in London.

PEREIRA: Look at that.

CAMEROTA: Moments ago, a cannon salute marked the day at the tower of London. Gun salutes also expected in Hyde Park. The queen who will celebrate privately is the oldest serving monarch in the world, Chris Cuomo.

PEREIRA: Some facts for you, Chris Cuomo. Today is her actual birthday. Did you know that her --

CUOMO: No.

PEREIRA: -- official birthday is June 12th.

Do you know why they do that?

CUOMO: Why did they do that, Canadian?

PEREIRA: Well, I'm going to tell you.

CUOMO: Please?

PEREIRA: Because traditionally, if any of the monarchs were born during the weather, the weather was seen as too bad to celebrate. So, they would give them an official birthday when the weather was balmier.

CAMEROTA: Makes perfect sense.

Your enthusiasm is infectious.

CUOMO: A little bit of a culture conflict, seeing how we were founded to be against monarchies in general.

CAMEROTA: And that's what you're standing on.

CUOMO: I'm wearing the Windsor family colors. So there.

CAMEROTA: So there.

Well, meanwhile, one American man, wait until you hear the story, he is doing all he can personally to rescue migrants. You will never guess what he and his wife are doing to make a difference. This is an interview you don't want to miss.

CUOMO: Skipping ahead, no, I don't know what the Windsor family colors are.

All right. A new poll we have highlights an odd Democrat disconnect. The president is up in large part because of your new optimism on the economy. So, so why isn't Hillary Clinton saying the same thing? The answer is ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:21:22] CAMEROTA: Update now on the doomed migrant ship that capsized off the coast of Libya. Overnight, authorities arresting the captain and a crew member on suspicion of human trafficking. Desperate search and rescue operations still underway this morning, and it's feared as many as 900 people could have drowned.

That tragedy is part of a growing migration crisis that the European leaders are scrambling to solve.

Joining us now is Christopher Catrambone. He's created a project to rescue migrants called the Migrant Offshore Aid Station, which last year helped to save 3,000 people in just two months.

Christopher, thanks so much for being on NEW DAY. CHRISTOPHER CATRAMBONE, FOUNDER, MOAS: Thank you, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: So, Christopher, you have an incredible personal story. You are a successful entrepreneur of a global insurance firm. You, though, in the past year have spent $7.5 million of your own personal wealth, that's half of your personal wealth trying to rescue migrants. Can you explain how logistics work and how you try to save people?

CATRAMBONE: Well, first of all, my wife and I created MOAS in 2013 after the tragedies of Lampedusa. We made a conscious decision to invest our money in saving lives out in the Mediterranean. We purchased a 40-meter rescue vessel, we hired professional (INAUDIBLE) and medical professionals. This year, we had Medecins Sans Frontieres, Doctors Without Borders with us, and we are continuing to strive ahead and will be back out at sea May 2nd with drones which patrol the area near the coast of Libya for these migrant vessels, and we will be the first ones using drones out there, and we started to do that last year, it was very successful.

This year, as I said before, we will have Doctors Without Borders, and we will have our search and rescue crew out at sea back on May 2nd, and we need support from the community and we have a solution and we are working it right now.

CAMEROTA: So, Christopher, as we just reported, you say last year in a two-month period, you rescued 3,000 migrants off the Mediterranean Sea. Can you explain what that look like? When you are on your vessel, what are you seeing around you in the ocean?

CATRAMBONE: Well, on most occasions we are coordinated by the rescue coordination centers in Rome. That's the Italian coast guard, and they alert us of vessels in distress and we follow those directions to those coordinates. And when you arrive to see these boats, you see nothing but people. You can't even see a vote, you just see them floating on water so to speak.

And I think the latest incident where women and children who are underneath the second level of the boat, it's quite common, just because they want to pack as many people as they can in the boats, and the smugglers' objective is to make money, and they will use as much space as they can to fit as much people in there. And most of the people do not have life jackets when we approach them, and they are dehydrated, they have fuel burns.

And so, by the time that we reach them, they are usually at the breaking point of death.

CAMEROTA: Oh my gosh! I mean, Christopher, you are used to this, but people are saying that the magnitude of what happened off the coast of Libya is unprecedented. What do you think about the scope of what we are seeing this week?

CATRAMBONE: Well, I think that we have been saying this since 2013 when the first major boat tragedy happened.

[08:25:03] This is exactly what happens when Mare Nostrum, which was the Italian rescue operation, was withdrawn because the European Union did not want to fund it. So when you have such a broad search and rescue program like Mare Nostrum and you withdraw, of course, you're going to see many more deaths in the Mediterranean, and we will expect more deaths.

In fact, if something is not done in the Mediterranean, we're going to see tens of thousands of deaths this year.

CAMEROTA: Christ, that is such a chilling prediction. What is the solution here? You can't do it alone. This has become your life's work.

But what is the solution for the European leaders?

CATRAMBONE: The first solution is to tackle the immediate short-term problem, which is, of course, we need assets out at sea to conduct the search and rescue. People are dying. That's a very simple solution. You need boats out there to save lives, to get people out of the water. That should be the first priority.

The second is stabilization of Libya, because, of course, this is where the human traffickers are coming from. This is where they're operating from, and it's a lawless state at the moment. There's no one that has been able to penetrate any type of solution between the war and factions, you also have ISIL there. People are fleeing from Libya because they want to get away from the violence, too.

So, it's a very difficult situation, very complex, it has multiple angles, but first of all, we need search and rescue assets in the Mediterranean. We're calling on the international committee to help out with us. This is a global problem, not just a European problem.

CAMEROTA: Christopher, very quickly, can you tell us why you made this your life's passion?

CATRAMBONE: Well, I wouldn't say that we made it our life's passion, but we ended up working very much for this cause because once we were out there at sea and we saw the faces of these children of these toddlers that are out there, and it's inspiring to continue working out at sea and trying to save as many people as possible.

I mean, we are civil society's response to this problem. Helpless citizens sitting around while governments are not doing anything about the problem, we created a solution of where the average citizen can contribute. Every single dollar that you gave to us will go towards saving lives.

So, if people out there are wanting to do something, help us, because right now, we are a solution out there. We'll be back out there May 2nd saving lives, please help us.

CAMEROTA: Christopher Catrambone, I will put your Web site, I will tweet it out so people can make contributions if they are so inclined.

Thanks for the work you do and sharing your story.

CATRAMBONE: Thank you very much, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Let's go to Michaela.

PEREIRA: What a great couple. Thanks for bringing that story to us, Alisyn.

The president's approval rating improving for the first time since May 2013. What does the bump mean for another Democrat who wants to be in the White House, Hillary Clinton? We'll take a look.

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